Wednesday, January 13, 2010

It's cold. I bet where you are you're saying the same thing. It wasn't the best time to buy a new horse! It's depressing not to get to hang out with her. She was pretty shy the first few days, but despite the fact I haven't been able to spend much time at the farm, Storm followed me all over the farm yesterday (and Abbey's letting her!). Apparently the source of apples and cookies and neck rubs can't be all bad.

However, we had a little break in the cold on Monday, and as a result, Brandon and I spent two hours at the farm with Bennett. That's his pretty paint mare, Jewel, in the picture. She's obviously very intelligent but she has very little respect for space, either horses or people. We don't know anything about her training history, but we did a little friendly game with a bareback pad with her on Monday, and she did pretty well with all of it, until it was on her and he went to put the cinch on (not tighten it). She wasn't bad but I think if you tightened the cinch all at once and her feelings weren't respected she'd be one of those that nips when you tighten. I do think she'd enjoy some work to do, though.

Midnight, his other mare, has been abused and neglected, and when she came to the farm she was the champion evader. She wouldn't come near anyone, and you couldn't get near her either, except if she had her nose in a feed bucket. One day when my son Brandon came to the farm she decided she liked him, and they've been sort of bonding ever since. When we got to spend some time there Monday, I was really struck by the transformation in her over the past three months or so, especially when Bran's around. She actively comes over looking for cookies and attention (especially scratches, which she likes more than the cookies, if you stop she'll lean back into your hand), with her ears pricked and an expression on her face, where before her expression was just dull all the time and she wouldn't look at you. She's filling back out, too. Bran can't wait to ride her.

Oh, and since we couldn't keep the horses from shoving the cows out of their feed and stealing it, I've taken on new responsibilities - after the horses are fed and locked in the back pasture I'm feeding the cattle. Not something I've ever done before! When I let the horses out Monday after the cows were done eating, Abbey went over and spent half an hour licking an ice block in their trough that was covered with corn, and when she was done Jewel ate it :)

Originally this blog was meant to be our mini travelogue, and from time to time it still will be. But in August 2009 I bought the horse I've wanted for my ENTIRE life, a BLM mustang named Abbey. Unfortunately (not really) my non-horsey hubby fell in love with her and he told me I'm going to need another horse, he's taking mine. So the last day of 2009, Storm came to live with us. We're training both horses with a mixture of natural horsemanship and clicker training, so this is also the chronicle of that Journey. It's been a little waylaid but we're hoping to be back on track.

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